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MA in Literature, Criticism & Textual Studies

January 15 — Applications deadline

Students in the MA in Literature, Criticism, and Textual Studies choose either the Thesis or the Non-Thesis option. Both options include the following requirements:

1. Two 600-level courses in English.
2. Four additional courses in English at the 500- to 600-level. A student may apply only one course of English 593 (Independent Study) toward the MA in English.
3. Two English graduate courses.
4. Evidence of proficiency in one foreign language, to be fulfilled in one of the following ways:
   • Completion of a second year of a language at college level with a grade of C or better.
   • Completion of French 302 or German 332 at UT with a grade of B or better.
   • Passing the doctoral Ph.D. foreign language examination as administered at UT.

Additional Requirements for the Thesis Option:

1. Six credit hours of English 500 (Thesis hours.) The thesis will be written under the direction of a professor in the English Department and approved by him or her and two other members. It should normally be between sixty to one hundred pages in length.
2. A candidate presenting a thesis must pass a ninety-minute oral examination, focusing in part on the thesis, but consisting chiefly of questions covering the general history of English and American literature, not merely the courses he or she has taken. A reading list of primary works designed to help the student prepare for this examination may be found here; hard copies of this list are also available in the English Graduate Office.

Additional Requirements for the Non-Thesis Option:

1. Two English graduate courses at the 500- or 600-level.
2. A four-hour written examination, followed within two weeks by a one-hour oral examination, consisting chiefly of questions covering the general history of English and American literature, not merely the course he or she has taken. A reading list of primary works designed to help the student prepare for this examination may be found here; hard copies of this list are also available in the English Graduate Office. An MA student who fails the written examination twice must leave the program.